THE University of Southampton has been honoured with an award for helping Britain’s sports stars to hone their techniques.

The institution's Performance Sports Engineering Laboratory was recognised for its work honing the abilities of competitors and improving the equipment they use across a range of sports, from Formula One and swimming to bobsleigh and cycling.

It was among 21 universities and colleges that received the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education from the monarch and Duke and Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace.

The honour recognises and celebrates outstanding work which is making a practical impact for human progress.

Professor Mark Spearing, Southampton's pro vice-chancellor, said the award would encourage young people to study engineering: ''We see this as a way of projecting engineering as a career to students.

''We're involved in a range of sports and all this sends out a really good message to all 16 and 17-year-olds. We're looking for the best and brightest to come to Southampton.''

Southampton University is hoping its efforts with Britain's swimmers help to produce the same results it achieved with the country's sportsmen and women at the last Olympics.

Out of the 19 gold medallists from Beijing, 15 worked with the laboratory's team, including the cyclists, whose engineers also contribute to the design of hulls, keel and rudders for the America's Cup yachts.

Joe Banks, 25, from Sheffield, a PhD student at Southampton, speaking about the work with the swimming squad, said: ''We filmed them being towed through the pool and measured the forces and resistance they produce.

''There's a fast turnaround (of information) and feedback so alterations can be made.''

Angus Webb, 24, from Banff, Aberdeenshire, also a PhD student, said: ''In the past it was coaches' intuition and stopwatches, now we get the swimmer in the pool and tell them if they need to make improvements - that's the major step forward.''